3. LIGHTNING PROTECTION

Lightning Protec� on is a very specialized fi eld. Even most university-trained electrical engineers have never had training in it. Most of the training is done ‘on-the-job’ from others, although more African countries are developing standards and cer� fi ca� on for lightning protec� on designers and installers. The simple truth is that nothing has been proven to be safer than the original Franklin rod (o� en called an arrestor in Africa), invented by Benjamin Franklin in the 1700’s. Arrestors do NOT a� ract lightning nor do they dissipate it, weaken it or ‘force’ it away. Properly designed and installed, a Lightning protec� on system(LPS) intercepts lightning that was going to hit the structure and channels it harmlessly to the ground. Franklin rods are not glamorous or shiny or fancy – but they are reliable and rela� vely inexpensive. Nothing has been shown to be more eff ecti ve than the simple Franklin rod in a properly designed and installed LPS. This conclusion is based on mul� ple independent tes� ng and research studies that have been done over the last 50 years around the world.A lightning protec� on system of a building is made up of four parts:a) Arrestors (usually Franklin rods also

called Air Termina� on) – enough should be placed on buildings to intercept the lightning as it comes down from the cloud to the ground.

b) Down-conductors – a minimum of two for every building. These take the energy captured by the arrestor harmlessly down to the earthing system.

c) Earthing or grounding system – these may be several long metal poles that

are pounded deeply into the ground. With the o� en dry African soil, it may be easier to dig a trench around the building and lay a ring of wire that is bonded to the down-conductors.

d) Bonding or separa� on between the parts above.

For buildings that contain expensive electrical systems, electronics, and equipment, a fourth part may be needed for protec� on. This is called ‘surge protec� on’.

NOTE: Surge protectors, properly selected and installed, could protect only your electrical and electronic appliances, but not your building from direct lightning strikes

3.1 MISREPRESENTATION AND MISUNDERSTANDING OF LIGHTNING PROTECTION

Unfortunately, because few have studied or understand what is required for proper lightning protec� on, many misunderstandings and resul� ng fraudu-lent claims have arisen.A primary false claim is that ‘if one point (Franklin rod) is good, then 5 or 25 or 100 points must be 5 or 25 or 100 � mes more eff ec� ve’. This has been shown to be false in all reputable scien� fi c studies. Nevertheless, ACLENet sees mul� -pointed arrestors on nearly every school where we install a lightning protec� on system (Figures 2 and 3). To take this idea to an extreme, some will try to sell ‘lightning dissipators’ that look like brushes or upside down tassels as shown in Figures 4 through 7.NOTE: ‘Whether it is a multi -point or single point air terminati on, the eff ect is similar. The multi ple points are more of a marketi ng tool than scienti fi c.

Figure 3. Close-up view of Franklin versus the multi -pointed shorter arrestor.

Figure 4. SLE (Semiconductor Lightning Eliminator) air terminals (circled) installed on petrochemical processing plants. Their claimed ability to reduce the ‘captured’ lightning current by 99% has been disproved by scienti sts

1. INTRODUCTIONThe rainy season has arrived across Uganda, and with it comes the impacts of the lightning hazard that has been reported more o� en in recent years. There is a great deal of misinforma� on, and worse, misrepresenta� ons about lightning protec� on in the public domain. Properly installed lightning protec� on (LP) measures can save people and property from death and damage. However, installa� ons that are based on misinforma� on, poor engineering or misrepresenta� on can lead people to feel that they are protected when they are not, or leading them to do things that they may have avoided with proper cau� on - things that can increase their risk of lightning injury and death. It is a cyclic problem.

For example:1. Mis-informa�on: One lightning rod on a house roof

protects the whole compound.

2. Distorted design and Prac�ce of LPS: One lightning rod is used in a compound like a school with many buildings.

3. Increased Risk of death, Injury, & Damage People in the compound with many houses/ buildings

feel safe when they are not.

4. More deaths, injury, and damage: More news in the press about lightning strikes, many more go unreported but affec�ng

CORRECTING THE MISINFORMATION AND MISREPRESENTATIONS ON LIGHTNING PROTECTION IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

A team from ACLENet put together this advisory to help the Ugandan public face the lightning hazard with the right informa� on while avoiding the misinforma� on and misrepresenta� on.

Mary Ann Cooper, President of ACLENet

Richard Tushemereirwe,Vice President of ACLENet

Ron Holle, Research Consultant at ACLENet

Dr. Peter Ndemere, CEO of UNCST

Uganda National Council for Science

and Technology

Figure 1. Cycle of misinformati on

Figure 2. Runyanya school building where 18 students were killed and 38 injured by lightning in 2011. Note the multi ple Franklin rods on the roofl ine with the old multi -prong shorter rod in the center.

February 2019 Advisory

2. A FEW MYTHS (MISINFORMATION)a) Lightning is sent by witches. This is dangerous

because it pushes the lightning hazard into the supernatural domain, making us think that we can do nothing about it except hire a more powerful witch and Sangoma or use more muthi!

b) Lightning cannot strike the same place twice. This is dangerous because people in those areas think they are safe when they may not be. Any place that is prone to lightning strike will remain prone to it – tall buildings are hit many � mes a year. No one can predict where lightning will strike, but scien� fi cally, we know that things that are tall, isolated or pointed are more likely to be hit by lightning.

c) A dead body of someone killed by lightning is bad omen – whoever touches it will be struck by lightning. This is dangerous because people who could have given fi rst aid, CPR or other aid may be too afraid to touch the person who was injured. A myth similar to this is that people who have been hit by lightning can be dangerous because they hold an electrical charge – also false. Lightning lasts only a few millionths of a second and is gone from both the person and the surroundings. They are safe to touch. BUT no place near thunderstorms are safe, so one should always be wary that more lightning can occur and injure at this same loca� on.

d) Certain tree species can stop lightning. This is very dangerous because it off ers a false sense of security to anyone who places their home close to these supposedly safe trees. Some trees show more damaged than others when struck by lightning. However, since trees are tall, isolated and pointed, the type of tree does not ma� er with respect to being struck.

e) Lightning arrestors repel lightning: Lightning protec� on systems protect a building that was going to be hit anyway, so the systems intercept the lightning and channel the energy safely around the building instead of through it where it could injure people, electronics or start a fi re. That is the challenge for engineers – to know how to use the lightning protec� on codes that have been proven scien� fi cally to minimize the risk of lightning injury and damage.

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For over two hundred years, vendors have been making all sorts of modifi ca� ons, adding glass balls, cylinders or odd shapes of shiny brass or silver, or using pre� y colors, in addi� on to making more points.(Figure 7). They look impressive, but NONE of these are any be� er than the plain, original, simple Franklin rod – yet they are usually MUCH more expensive than the Franklin rod. Most of these alterna� ve arrestors fall under the name of Early Streamer Emitt ers, also known as ESE’s. There are many other claims to be wary of, and cause great concern for their false claims:a) An electrical charge is extruded from the

� ps’ that some will claim can either drive away a lightning strike, weaken it, or will somehow be more eff ec� ve in capturing the lightning.

TRUTH: ‘Upward streamers’ arise from anything that is near an electrical charge (like a thunderstorm), whether it is a tree, a telephone tower, a person, a cow or a blade of grass. This is part of the normal physics of electricity and magne� sm - and lightning is an electrical phenomenon. So, while their claim is not false, it is also not something they designed into their arrestors or is special about their brand or design that they should be able to claim or charge for!

b) ‘Adding a radioac� ve source will enhance the arrestor’ by adding another source of ‘emission’ that ionizes the air around it.

TRUTH: There is no evidence whatsoever that this is true, based on mul� ple scien� fi c studies. And do you really want a radioac� ve source around your kids or family or employees?

c) ESE vendors tried a number of other strategies. One is to claim that they can protect a larger area because of increased eff ec� ve height, increased volume capture (can capture lightning strikes within a larger radius from the arrestor)

and other claims, even going so far as to claim ‘Our arrestor will protect anyone within ten kilometers’ as a recent Uganda news report stated. One of the reasons that ESE vendors con� nue their claims is that designing and installing a Franklin type system is usually more complicated and requires many more arrestors (rods) than an ESE system. So the ESE vendor does not have to have the knowledge of a reputable lightning protec� on specialist and can install one ESE arrestor in much less � me while charging much more for their ineff ec� ve product.

TRUTH: All of these claims have been proven false by mul� ple reputable scien� sts worldwide for the last two decades.

d) Oversimplifi ed presenta� on in mass media In early 2017, the New Vision newspaper

published an ar� cle in which an electrical engineer presented lightning protec� on in a very simplifi ed form. While not an outright untruth, it stretches the truth and simplifi es it beyond safety. The engineer also went on to advocate the use of an air

terminal with a ‘pronged shape’. Obviously, the engineer had fallen for the ESE claims. Lightning protec� on is a very specialized area and a � ny part of most engineers’ experience. It is no wonder many of them do not know the codes that specify the design techniques for proper lightning protec� on. It is important that African electrical engineers/technicians become educated about Lightning Protec� on. Proper Lightning Protec� on that is code (IEC 62305) compliant starts with design. We should start to recognize the cri� cal importance of qualifi ed exper� se in lightning protec� on.

4. PROPER LIGHTNING PROTECTIONThe most comprehensive guideline in lightning protec� on is the interna� onally-recognized standard (IEC 62305) by Interna� onal Electro-technical Commission. The IEC 62305 standard parts 1 to 4 reorganizes and updates the previous standard publica� ons [IEC 61024 series, IEC 61312 series, and IEC 61663 series] on lightning protec� on systems.

Part 1 - General principlesThis part presents general informa� on on lightning and its characteris� cs and general data, and introduces the other documents.

Part 2 - Risk managementThis part presents the analysis making it possible to calculate the risk for a structure and to determine the various protec� on scenarios in order to permit technical and economic op� miza� on.

Part 3 - Physical damage to structures and life hazardThis part describes protec� on from direct lightning strikes, side fl ashes, step poten� al, and touch poten� al by including the air-termina� on, down-conductor, earthing, and equipoten� al bonding/minimum separa� on as an integrated system.

Part 4 - Electrical and electronic systems within structuresThis part describes protec� on from the induced eff ects of lightning, including the protec� on system by Surge Protec� on Devices (SPD Types 2 and 3), cable shielding, rules for installa� on of SPD, etc.This series of standards is supplemented by: The IEC 61643 series of standards for the

defi ni� on of SPDs The IEC 60364-4 and -5 series of standards

for applica� on of the products in LV electrical installa� ons/

However, IEC 62305 is not well represented in Africa. Instead, there are many European/American/Chinese based products that violate IEC Standards and are fl ooding into the African market. These products have been branded fraudulent by those who are mindful about standard code compliance because they make claims which cannot be scien� fi cally jus� fi ed. For example, ESE and SLE products claim that they emit energy to ‘arrest’ incoming lightning. This is simply NOT TRUE and can be dangerous as well because they off er a false sense of security.

ESE and SLE manufacturers have dominated the African market with their propaganda and have spread FAKE science concerning lightning protec� on. This has led to engineers installing these fraudulent products without ques� oning the validity of claims on effi ciency or potency. This is because

prac� cing engineers are not inves� gators or researchers. So, we have complacency and mediocrity with lightning protec� on which is a result of economic ecosystems established in Africa rather than anything else.

5. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE, IN GOVERNMENT, FOR ADDRESSING THE LIGHTNING HAZARD?

The government of Uganda has assigned the responsibility of standards in Lightning Protec� on to ERA (Electricity Regulatory Authority). This is on the right assump� on that lightning is natural electricity. ERA also licenses electrical engineers and technicians otherwise called electrical installers. But have these been educated on IEC 62305 and its implementa� on?

The responsibility (mandate) for aler� ng the public on lightning and thunderstorms is placed with the Uganda Na� onal Meteorological Authority (UNMA). However, when lightning strikes, killing or injuring people, or destroying property and infrastructure, the responsibility lies with NECOC (Na� onal Emergency Coordina� on Centre) under the Ministry of disaster preparedness and fi rst responders in Uganda Police Force.

The biggest challenge in propaga� ng proper lightning protec� on is the misinforma� on and misrepresenta� ons in the public domain, even among the educated classes of people. The other challenge is the dominance of ESE products, with false claims, in the African market.

6. ACLENet FIELD WORK

ACLENet has con� nued to lead by example. Friends and partners have helped us to install proper lightning protec� on wherever we could, such as the current school projects in Uganda shown in Figure 15. This also serves to demonstrate code (IEC 62305) compliant LPS so that when we advocate, we have prac� cal examples. Demonstra� ng prac� cality is the reason we have spread our reach in every corner of Uganda.

Figure 6. Or you can have four of them!!

Figure 5. Another lightning dissipator with the brand name blocked.

Figure 7. Multi ple varieti es of ‘enhanced’ lightning arrestors.

Figure 15. Current school lightning protecti on projects within Uganda with involvement of ACLENet.

Figure 15. Current school lightning protecti on projects within Uganda with involvement of ACLENet.For any comment or querry, please visit us at: h� ps://aclenet.org/about-aclenet/contact.html

Figure 8. New Vision ar� cle.

ACLENet, the African Centers for Lightning and Electromagne� c Network, is dedicated to reducing deaths, injuries and property damage from lightning across Africa. Part of their work is to put right this misinforma� on and misrepresenta� on. In Uganda, ACLENet works with the Uganda Na� onal Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) as the central point for all Science and Technology advice. Interna� onally, ACLENet has organized a pool of interna� onally recognized research advisers and lightning protec� on experts who are proud to be volunteering their � me and exper� se for the public good in Africa.There are many long-held cultural beliefs about lightning, such as stories that your grandmother and great-grandmother told you every � me a thunderstorm occurred. These beliefs may have started with a grain of truth but, as they are re-told countless � mes, may become embroidered and grow a li� le with each telling. They may date back many genera� ons, even before the scien� fi c (industrial) revolu� on. Many are stories that cause no harm, but a few can cause behavior that can be dangerous to the individual and some� mes to friends and family.